A 40-year study of 3,500 people found that those who misbehaved as teenagers were at greater risk for mental or personal problems as adults than were peers who didn't have behavior issues. Even mild behavior problems increased the risk.

Teachers assessed teenagers in 1,960 for conduct problems, including lying, truancy, daydreaming, restlessness, and disobedience. About 1,000 teens in the study had some conduct problems, though not necessarily severe ones. As adults, however, this group was more likely to divorce, abuse alcohol, quit high school, and experience other types of adversity.

Dr. Martin Iguchi, one of the lead researchers, said he believes the correlation may be due to undiagnosed mental illness, noting that people are at greatest risk for psychiatric problems between ages 14 and 26.

This study from the University of Alberta School of Public Health appeared in the British Medical Journal.

Labels: behaviors, adults, mental_health

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 3 Comments

Can drinking as a teenager raise your tolerance for alcohol as an adult? A study from Baylor University found that, in animals at least, the answer to this question is "yes."

Researchers found that rats that had been exposed to moderate levels of alcohol in adolescence had higher tolerances five years later.

Author Dr. Douglas Matthews said, "The body and brain are still developing and this shows that even moderate levels of alcohol can have harmful effects."

The study was published in the journal Alcohol.

Labels: alcohol, adults, tolerance

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

A team of researchers from the U.S., Britain and New Zealand have found that teens who begin drinking or using drugs before age 15 are more likely to engage in risky behavior well into their 30s than are individuals who remained mostly sober until much later. The risk was prevalent regardless of the teens' backgrounds or family histories.

"The 'good kids,' who were without behavior problems as children and didn't have any of the family risk factors, but who began using drugs and alcohol before 15, ended up being 3.6 times more likely to be dependent on substances at age 32. They were also more likely than the other good kids to wind up with a criminal conviction and a herpes infection."

The study did not find the same results for kids who tried alcohol or drugs just once or twice. It was only the kids who were "invested" in a lifestyle of regular use that were at risk. Source: PsychCentral

Read more: Higher Risks in Early Drinkers

Labels: consequences, adults, early_drinkers

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

Several new studies that employ high-tech tools like MRIs are proving that the human brain is not fully developed until age 25 or so. Some scientists, such as Jay Giedd, head of the brain imaging project at the National Institute of Health and Dr. Deborah Yurgelun-Todd of Harvard Medical School are using this new data to urge changes in public policies. They and others argue that teenagers should not be allowed to drive, enlist in the military or vote.

However, other scientists are looking at the evidence in a different way. They argue that people ages 35 to 54 years old are the ones who behave the most irresponsibly. Here are some statistics:

Since 1975, there has been a 550% increase in the number of deaths by drug overdose among the middle-aged. Over 370,000 middle-aged people were admitted to emergency rooms in 2004 for drug overdoses, and 18,250 died, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

Middle-aged people are 30% more at risk for automobile accidents than teenagers.

There are 21 million middle-aged binge drinkers - twice the percent of college-aged binge drinkers. Binge drinking is defined as five drinks in a row taken once a week.

About four million middle-aged people were arrested in 2004 - one million committed violent crimes and 500,000 involved drug arrests. There has been a 600% increase in the number of middle-aged people in American prisons since 1975.

Learn about the value of boarding school for middle school aged children at Boarding Schools for Girls.

Labels: addiction, adults, binge_drinking

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments